Paper handling machine



July 26, 1938.

R. HITCHCOCK PAPER HANDLING MACHINE Filed Oct. l0, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mvENTon 0c l( ATTORNEY;

July 26, 1938. R. H|TcHcocK PAPER HANDLING MACHINE Filed Oct. 10, v1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 -uil@ Qd m x. a j A W m E. mw Ffm r lxf HV1-1 l i il m I w M M s m u w wn I l. .u ww Sv W A um n 7 w/ Q\ MN@ h ww |l| c-,Jw *3mm r: i....nWI-ll 'IWIIL NM. AQ n n n f Patented July 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAPER HANDLING MACHINE Application October 10, 1928, Serial No. 311,463

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in paper handling machines and has reference particularly to sheet feeding.

One of the objects of the invention is the pro- 5 vision of means which shall permit of the use of a feed table of minimum size with respect to the size of sheets to be handled.

Another object is the provision of means for feeding sheets from a stack and over a feed table,

the partsbeing so designed and arranged that a positive control of the sheets is had at all times, and so that they are moved against and along a side guide to produce accurate alignment with a minimum amount of longitudinal movement.

Another object is the provision of means for adjustably regulating the distance between the sheet feeder and the positive sheet moving means or drive upon the feed table, in order that each sheet regardless of size may be under the control 30 cf the feed table drive before it leaves the control of the sheet feeder, yet providing an adjustability which will permit the release of the sheet, whatever its length, from control of the sheet feeder after it is grasped by the driving -33 means of the table, and hence permitting the sheet aligning devices of the feed table to begin to function unhampered by the sheet feeder after the travel of the sheet upon the feed table is well under way.

Still another object is the reduction in the number of driven rollers in feed tables of this class.

A further object is the provision of means which shall insure accurate alignment and feed- 3,5, ing of sheets that are wider than they are long. Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the description of those embodiments of the invention which, for the purposes of the present application, Ihave illusl0 trated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan View of a folding machine having4 a single folding section of the buckling type, a portion of the figure being in section substantially on the line I--I of Fig. 2;

55 Fig. 6 is a plan view of the same with a portion Fig. 2 is al View of the same machine? partly inv of the structure in horizontal section on the line 6-5 ofv Fig. 5; and

Fig. '7 is a detail sectional view on a larger scale, the section being taken substantially on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6.

In the drawings I have illustrated by way of example a folding machine of the buckle type embodying a single fold section. The invention may be employed, however, in conjunction with any machine which is adapted to 4act upon sheets fed to it one at a time. In the present instance the frame of a folding machine, indicated at I0, rotatably supports a series of folding rolls II, I2, I3 and I4 which cooperate with one or both of two fold plates I5 and I6, the folded sheets being delivered by the rolls I3, I4 onto the surface of an endless belt stacker I1, supported upon rollers 18'? and I9. In front of the folding section just described is a feed table comprising a rectangular frame 20 to the outer end of which is attached a pair of supporting legs 2|.

Referring now more particularly to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, the frame 20 has secured to the upper surface thereof by screws 22 or the like a at plate 23 which may be in a single piece or a multiplicity of pieces. The surface of this plate is adapted to support and guide sheets directly between lthe rolls IIl and I2 of the folding section. It is preferably reinforced intermediate the sides thereof by underlying longitudinal bars 24 and 25. These bars, together with one or both of the side bars of the frame 2U, rotatably support a plurality of diagonally arranged shafts 26, 21, 28 carrying thereon short rollers 29 of identical form.Y These rollers extend through openings 30 in the plate 23, their upper surfaces being approximately upon a level with the upper surface of the plate 23 in'order that sheets lying upon the surface of the plate may have motion imparted thereto by the rotation of the rollers.

Any convenient means for driving the shafts 26, 21, 23 in the same direction and preferably at the Same speed may beemployed. In the present case I have shown endless belts 3l and 32 for operatively interconnecting these shafts, the shaft 28 being driven through bevel gears 33 and 34 from a shaft 35 supported in bearings upon brackets 36, 31 and 38. The shaft 35 is intended to be power driven in any suitable manner. It may also be connected by means of bevel gears 39 and All and a train of spur gears 4I to operate the folding rolls II, I 2, I3 and I4 and the roller I8 of the stacker belt.

OriY the forward side bar of the frame 20- I selll cure two or more brackets 42 which are furnished with drilled openings parallel with the shafts 26, 21 and 28 for the reception of threaded rods 43 having atted inner ends that are secured to a horizontal flange 44 upon a side guide 45. The rods 43 are adapted to be adjusted in and out and locked in adjusted position by means of nuts 46 an-d 41 bearing upon opposite sides of the brackets 42.

Ihe horizontal flange 44 of the side guide acts as a retainer for rolling weights arranged above the rollers 29. In the present instance these weights are shown in the form of balls 48 which have sufficient mass to insure good Contact between the rollers and the sheets of paper thereon,

the balls being mounted in round openings in the iiange 44 and held thereby from lateral displacement while being supported by the rollers 29, either directly or through the sheets of paper travelling thereover. The balls 48 may be positioned directly over the axes of the rollers 29 as shown, or, if preferred, slightly to one side thereof. This relative positioning of the rollers and balls is maintained for all adjustments of the side guide, owing to the parallelism between the threaded rods 43 and the axes of the rollers.

Upon the frame of the feed table I mount a sheet feeder, providing for its adjustment bodily toward and away from the first roller 29 and cooperating ball 48. 'Ihe sheet feeder illustrated is one of common construction and in itself forms no part of the present invention. Other feeders may be substituted. In the present case the feeder mechanism comprises a pair of side frame members 5U which are grooved upon their inner sides to embrace the side bars of the frame 20, as shown in Fig. 3. These frame members 5B are connected together by a tie bar 5l which is flatted at its ends and tightly fitted into correspondingly flatted openings in the frame members 513, this being for the purpose of preventing rotation of the bar 5|. The latter carries a pair of circular blocks 52 which may be secured in various positions of adjustment by means of set screws 53.

In the frame members 5B, above and somewhat forward of the bar 5i there is rotatably mounted a shaft 54, carrying a pair of rubber faced wheels or discs 55 which are adjustably secure-d upon the shaft by set screws 56. The drive for the shaft 54 may be conveniently taken off the shaft 35 by any suitable connections of a character which will permit their movement lengthwise of the shaft. In the drawings I have shown for this purpose a worm 51 which is slidably keyed to the shaft and is arranged to be moved therealong by ngers 58 extending outwardly from one of the frame members and embracing the ends of the worm. A worm wheel 59 pinned to one end of the shaft 54 meshes with the worm 51.

An inclined plate 60 is secured at its ends to the frame members 56, while below and forward of the plate 50 is a shorter plate 5l only slightly inclined and terminating in the angle between the circular blocks 52 and the discs 55. The plates 60 and 6| together form a support for sheets indicated at A, which are thereby fanned out to some extent and hence arranged to the best advantage for being acted upon by the rubber faced discs 55.

The entire sheet feeder is movable bodily along the frame 26 and may be fastened in any adjusted position thereon by means of set screws 62 furnished with lock nuts 63.

The modified form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and '1 is similar in most respects to the construction above described. In it I employ, however, feed table rollers 64 extending entirely across the table, following the usual practice in this regard. These rollers are rotatably mounted in the side bars of the table frame 20, and may be driven by a belt 65 contacting with the lower surfaces of the rollers, the belt being mounted at one end upon a pulley 66 secured to a shaft 61, provided with a spiral gear 68 meshing with a second spiral gear 69 on a shaft 35 mounted in brackets 36. The shaft 35 rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the shaft 35, and hence the bevel pinion 39 is positioned on the side of the bevel pinion 40 which is opposite to that engaged by the bevel pinion 39 in the first described form of the invention.

The spaces between the rollers 64 are lled in by plates 10, and at the forward end of the table there is a triangular plate 1|, while at the rear end there is a plate 12 having a diagonal I forward edge positioned adjacent the first roller 64.

The sheet feeder in this case is of the same general construction as in the rst described form of the invention, and is operated by the same driving connections. The method of locking the feeder after adjustment is, however, slightly different in that the side bars of the frame 2Q are provided with one or more longitudinal slots 13 through which extend bolts 14 carried by the feeder, the nuts on these bolts beingtightened to hold the feeder in any desired position.

The operation of the machine is the same regardless of which of the two described forms is employed. The circular blocks 52 and the discs 55 are properly positioned upon their supports to handle in the most eicient manner sheets of the width of those to be fed. The sheet feeder is then moved longitudinally of the table to the desired position, that ,is one where sheets of the length to be delivered by the feeder will be moved onto the feed table under the control of the sheet feeder as far as possible before the sheet feeder lets go, that is to say far enough to engage at least one and preferably more of the balls 48, but not so far that the sheet remains under the control of the sheet feeder when the forward end is advanced beyond a point where the balls can act effectively to shift it against the side guide. The correct position of the feeder for any given sheet may be determined by trial, and will be found to vary more or less with the weight, finish and relative stiffness of the paper stock. For relatively short sheets the feeder should be as close aspossible to the feed table, and as previously stated must always be close enough to permit at least one ball to take effect before the feeder lets go.

Sheets that are quite long, in fact longer than the feed table itself, may be successfully handled by the use of the machine herein described, provided that the feeder is adjusted far enough to the rear to let go of the sheets before the forward ends thereof get too close to the delivery end of the table. The invention also has special utility for the feeding of sheets that are considerably wider than they are long. It is difficult to keep such sheets in proper alignment upon the ordinary feed table, and I have found also that a feed table employing means of the nature of the balls 48 does not always function well on such sheets for the reason that when the forward corner of the sheet encounters the first ball there is a tendency for the sheet to pivot on the ball and thus swing far out of alignment. By the use of the present invention however the feeder may be adjusted close up to the feed table and the wide sheet can then be kept under the control of the feeder until one or more balls of the feed table are riding upon the sheet and ready to shift it sidewise immediately after the feeder lets go.

If the length of the sheet will permit it is desirable to have at least two balls grip the sheet before it leaves the control of the feeder, for in that way the lateral movement of the sheet takes place bodily, in other words all points of the sheet move sidewise at the same speed. By adjustably positioning the feeder at precisely the correct distance from the feed table, I am enabled to secure the quickest possible sheet aligning action and thereby to employ a feed table of minimum length.

After the adjustments for any particular run are properly made, the operator proceeds in the usual manner; that is a stack of sheets A is laid upon the plates 6l), 6I, the sheets being thereby fanned out and fed by gravity into the angle between the circular blocks 52 and rotating discs- 55, resulting in the movement of the sheets one at a time by the discs 55 from the stack onto the feed table. Here the rotating rollers 29 or 64, as the case may be, engage the under surfaces of the sheets tending to cause them to travel forward and sidewise simultaneously, and the balls 48 above the sheets render the action the the rollers quite positive; in other Words they reduce slippage. As before stated, the feeder is always adjusted so that at least the first ball 48 is engaged by the sheet before it leaves the feeder, and hence the balls take effect immediately upon the release of the sheet by the feeder. In the drawings the feeder is illustrated in its position of adjustment which is closest tothe feed table, this being the position used when the sheets to be fed are short. When the sheets have considerable length, the sheet feeder will be adjusted backwardly a considerable distance and the forward edges of the sheet will travel over the at surface of the table for some distance before engaging with the first ball and its cooperating roller.

While in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings I have employed a rather detailed disclosure, I desire it to be understood that such disclosure is primarily for the purpose of fully illustrating the invention, and is not to be considered as a limitation upon its scope. In this connection it may be remarked that the use of a mechanical feeder is not essential to the invention in some of its aspects, as certain features of the invention may be practiced in connection with hand feeding in the well-known manner.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. In a paper handling machine, a feed table having a side guide, said table comprising diagonally arranged driven rollers adapted to cause travel of sheets thereon longitudinally and towards said side guide, a series of rolling weights mounted in said side guide and supported by said rollers, whereby the travel of the sheets themselves rotates the Weights, and a sheet feeder for delivering sheets to said table in a direction parallel to said side guide, said sheet feeder being adjustable toward and away from said table and adapted to release control of each sheet immediately after it is engaged by the first of said rolling weights.

2. In a paper handling machine, a feed table having a side guide, said table comprising diagonally arranged driven rollers adapted to cause the travel of sheets thereon longitudinally and towards said side guide, said guide having openings therein, rolling weights mounted in said openings above said rollers for holding the sheets in engagement with the rollers, and a sheet feeder for delivering sheets to said table in the direction of travel of sheets thereon, said sheet feeder being adjustable toward and away from said table and adapted to release control of each sheet immediately after it is engaged by the first of said rolling weights.

3. In a paper handling machine, a feed table having a side guide, said table comprising diagonally arranged driven feeding means adapted to cause travel of sheets thereon longitudinally and towards said side guide, a series of rolling weights supported by said feeding means and adapted to be rotated by the travel of the sheets thereon for holding the sheets in engagement with the feeding means, and a sheet feeder for delivering sheets to said table in a direction parallel to said side guide, the feeder being adjustable toward and away from the said diagonally arranged feeding means, whereby the distance between the feeder and the first of said rolling weights may be varied.

4. In a paper handling machine, a feed table having a side guide, said table comprising diagonally arranged driven rollers adapted to cause the travel of sheets thereon longitudinally and towards said side guide, said side guide having a horizontal flange overlying the ends of said rollers, said flange having openings therethrough above said rollers, rolling weights mounted in said openings for holding the sheets in engagement with the rollers, and a sheet feeder for delivering sheets to said table in a direction parallel to the side guide, said sheet feeder being adjustable toward and away from said table and adapted to release control of each sheet immediately after it is engaged by the first of said rolling weights.

'5. In a paper handling machine, a feed table having a side guide, said table comprising diagonally arranged driven rollers adapted to cause sheets travelling thereon to move with their side edges in engagement with said guide, said guide having openings therein, rolling weights mounted in said openings above said rollers for holding the sheets in engagement with the rollers, and a sheet feeder for delivering sheets tosaid table in a direction parallel to said guide, said feeder being adjustable toward and away from the first roller and its cooperating rolling weight.

REUBEN HITCHCOCK- 

